


Tell Me Sweet Little Lies

by CindySin



Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Billy Hargrove Lives, Billy Hargrove Needs Love, Billy Hargrove Redemption, Explicit Sexual Content, F/M, Fluff, Fluff and Smut, I’m terrible with tags, Porn With Plot, SO MUCH FLUFF, Slightly altered timeframe, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, Vulnerable Billy, post-season 3
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-18
Updated: 2020-07-22
Packaged: 2021-03-05 05:54:40
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 9
Words: 15,972
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25369438
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CindySin/pseuds/CindySin
Summary: A year after almost losing his life at the Battle of Starcourt Mall, Billy meets a woman unlike any other he’s known before, but the tables have turned and she’s only interested in one thing, no strings attached. Can Billy change her mind, and can she help him heal himself in the process?
Relationships: Billy Hargrove/Original Female Character(s)
Comments: 10
Kudos: 26





	1. Black Velvet

**Author's Note:**

> I have no idea how this fic came to me, it just popped into my head fully formed.  
> The time-period setting of this story is a bit of a mish-mash; technically it’s still the 80s, because I want Billy in those tight jeans, but I also wanted him to have some interactions with the OC via text messaging, and at some point post-80s songs will feature. So, imagine if you will, that the 80s are in full flow but in the present day, Billy survived the Battle of Starcourt Mall and now he’s working at the quarry in Hawkins post-season 3. I promise, it’ll all make sense in the end.  
> Each chapter is named after a song that features in it somehow, and I’ll make a playlist on Spotify at some point and link it here.  
> As always, please feel free to leave comments and suggestions, I live for feedback and kudos. Criticism welcome as well. Thank you for reading.

He wants her the first time he sees her. He’s driving down Maple Street, same as any other Friday afternoon when he finishes as the quarry at two o’clock. He hears the music before he sees her, because it’s ninety-two degrees out and he’s got his windows down to try to let a little breeze into the stifling heat of the Camaro that’s been parked all day in the sun.

**“...the way he moved, it was a sin, so sweet and true.**  
 **Always wanting more, he’d leave you longing for.  
** **Black velvet and that little boy smile,  
** **Black velvet and that slow Southern style...”**

He turns his head slightly in the direction it’s coming from and that’s when he sees her. She’s under the popped hood of a black Impala, her denim cut offs short enough that he can see the swell of her buttock under the hem where she’s leant over, an oily rag tucked in her waistband. She straightens as he slows slightly, wipes her forehead with the back of a grease smeared hand holding a ratchet, pushes her hair out of her face where it’s escaped from the sloppy bun on top of her head. He’s staring now, he knows he’s staring, but he can’t tear his eyes away from her. It almost seems like he passes her in slow motion, close enough that he can see a fat bead of sweat roll lazily down her collarbone and between her breasts as she turns to watch him ride by, disappearing under the once white shirt she’s wearing, tied in a knot at the waist, her tanned midriff showing beneath it. His cock twitches lazily in his pants, and then again when his eyes flick up to his rear view mirror and he sees her watching him drive away, a faint smile on her lips as she lifts a beer bottle to them. Yeah, he wants her. Whoever she is.

———

He runs into her the week after. Literally, runs into her. He rounds a corner in Melvald’s and she’s coming the opposite way, and before he realises it he's walked straight into her. She drops the box of cereal she has in her arms and just manages to catch the carton of eggs that were balancing on it before they hit the floor.

“You wanna watch where you’re goin’?”

Her accent is pure Southern, thick and drawn out, and fuck, he never realised an accent could turn someone on so much before. He bends to pick up the cereal box, and when he straightens up he sees her slight frown before it clears and recognition fills her eyes.

“‘79 Camaro.”

He laughs and nods, holds out his hand.

“Billy. Billy Hargrove.”

She takes it and her grip is surprisingly strong, her palm calloused and worn, not soft and dainty. He doesn’t really notice that she doesn’t offer her name.

“I haven’t seen you around before, you just moved here?”

She nods, shifts the strap of her bag on her shoulder.

“Yup, jus’ moved up from Tennessee a couple’a weeks back.”

She gestures at the cereal box still in Billy’s hand.

“Shit, sorry, forgot I was still holding that for a second. I uh, I guess I should let you get going. Was nice to meet you.”

She smiles at him as she takes the box from him.

“You too Camaro. See ya around.”

He watches her walk away, all ripped jeans and leather jacket, and wonders if it’s possible that she fell straight from his imagination into Hawkins.

———

Two days later, when he pulls up outside Henry’s Autos to pick up a new bulb for his tail light, somehow he’s almost _not_ surprised to see her there, overalls tied around her waist by the sleeves as she talks to a customer with an invoice in her hand. He waits and watches as she shakes the guy’s hand and thanks him for his custom, and when she looks up and sees Billy she grins as she tucks her hands in her pockets.

“You stalkin’ me Camaro?”

Billy laughs.

“Could ask you the same question.”

She tilts her head, still grinning.

“Now how could I be stalkin’ you, when I’m the one who works here?”

“Fair point,” Billy holds his hands up and laughs again. “I just came in for a tail light bulb. It’s a-“

“I know what it is, Camaro. Been fittin’ bulbs in tail lights since long before you were drivin’.”

Right at that moment one of the other guys who works there, Abe, Billy thinks his name is, pokes his head through the door from the workshop.

“Hey boss, you got a minute? Could do with an extra pair of hands on this Ranger.”

She frowns.

“Abe, how many times I gotta tell you, don’t call me boss. You make me sound old as shit. I’ll be right there.”

He nods and disappears back through the door, and when she turns back to Billy, he has an eyebrow raised.

“Boss? You bought the place when Henry died?”

She sighs and shakes her head.

“Not as such. Henry was my father’s cousin. He left the place to me when he passed, on account o’ me bein’ the only family he got left since m’dad died two years ago.”

Billy nods.

“I’m sorry for your loss.”

She smiles softly.

“Thanks. So, that bulb. Gimmie two seconds.”

She disappears through the back for a moment, returning with the box in her hand. Billy pulls the cash from his wallet and she takes it.

“You need a hand fittin’ that?”

He shakes his head, the corner of his mouth turned up in a smirk.

“I think I’m good thanks boss.”

She laughs, rolling her eyes at him.

“But uh, if I do find I need some help, I’ll come by and you can show me how it’s done.”

She grins.

“You do that Camaro. I’m here ‘til eight.”

As he climbs back into his car, Billy thinks to himself that he might just need a hand fitting that bulb after all.


	2. Dr. Feelgood

When he pulls up outside the garage later that evening, a six pack of beers in the passenger seat, he can hear the radio blasting out Mötley Crüe through the open side door to the workshop and he grins to himself. _The girl’s got taste_ he thinks. He raps on the open door as he steps through it and when she turns to him he lifts the beers in his hand.

“Thought I’d bring these by and take you up on that offer of a hand.”

She chuckles and wipes her hands on a rag, tosses it on the bench next to the car she’s working on. She goes to turn the music down a little, but Billy interrupts her.

“Leave it up if you want. I’m a Crüe fan.”

She catches the can Billy pitches to her easily and pops it open, taking a drink with her eyes closed, savouring the cold beer.

“Goddamn that’s good.” She strolls over to him, stops a few feet away. “What’samatter Camaro, didn’t wanna get that shirt dirty changing a bulb?”

She points to the tight, pristine white tee he’s wearing, the one he knows makes women weak at the knees with the way it skims his abs and shows off his sun-kissed arms with its turned up sleeves. He shrugs. 

“Just thought I’d let the boss show me a thing or two.”

She raises an eyebrow.

“That line usually work for ya?” Billy frowns slightly.

“Oh, I know all about you, Billy Hargrove. I’ve been filled in on all the salacious details about your conquests around town after you came in earlier. What was it Abe said?” She drops her voice an octave as she repeats Abe’s earlier musings about Billy. “‘The back seat o’ that Camaro’s seen more action that I did in Vietnam. And I lost a leg there.’” She laughs as colour rises in Billy’s cheeks, but when she speaks her voice is soft.

“No need to blush Camaro. You think I didn’t know what I was doin’ when I told ya I’d be here ‘til eight tonight?” She closes the gap between them, stopping when her boots are pretty much toe to toe with his. “Your reputation don’t bother me none. If anything it’s a bonus; means you’re less likely to want somethin’ I ain’t prepared to give, and the way I hear it, my satisfaction’s guaranteed.”

She leans into him as she puts her beer down on the bench behind him, never breaking eye contact, and Billy can smell the lingering scent of soap on her skin mixed with engine oil and a trace of fresh sweat.

“Be a shame to get this shirt all dirty” she tells him as she toys with the hem of it, and when he nods she pulls it up, strips it off him in one move. He stands there for a few moments and watches her as she takes him in, her eyes tracing the map of scars that last year’s events at the Starcourt Mall left behind. He’s surprised at the next words out of her mouth, surprised that she doesn’t mention his scars at all.

“You’re a real pretty boy Camaro. That get the girls ‘round here all hot for ya?”

He laughs at her question, shrugs his shoulders.

“It’s worked for me so far. And hey, I’m here aren’t I?”

She huffs a laugh as she runs her finger along the waistband of his pants as she shakes her head slightly.

“A pretty exterior ain’t worth shit if what’s under the hood’s no good. You should know that Camaro.” She tugs at his belt, loosens it just enough that she can slide her hand into his jeans and cup his semi-hard dick. She traps her bottom lip between her teeth as she does it, and Billy exhales loudly.

“You gonna stand there looking pretty all night, or are you gonna fuck me?”

He doesn’t need asking twice. He reaches out and pulls her to him, dips his head to meet her mouth with his. She parts her lips to let his tongue brush hers, and he can taste the beer she was drinking. He unties the sleeves of her overalls at her waist as their mouths clash together over and over, hard and fervent, and unbuttons her jeans beneath them, pushing them down together so he can palm her at her core, hot and wet already as he grinds the heel of his hand against her clit. She groans wantonly against his lips.

“Bend me over and fuck me” she purrs, and Billy thinks to himself that all his Christmases must have come at once as he breaks away from her to spin her round and bend her over the bench he was leaning against. He slips his fingers under the lace of her panties at her hips, and he pulls them down her legs to join her pants and overalls around her ankles as she sighs and reaches underneath herself to stroke at her own wet cunt. He watches her as he unbuckles his belt the rest of the way and unfastens his jeans so he can pull out his now fully hard cock, stroking it a couple of times before he steps forward and presses it against her, running it through the slick wetness of her slit. She moans impatiently.

“Quit teasin’ and fuck me already Camaro. Don’t stop ‘til one of us can’t stand up n’more.”

His eyes roll back in his head as he slides into her in one long, firm stroke. Her cunt swallows his length whole, the heat of her around him almost unbearable, and he has to physically hold himself back from coming in her right there and then as she calls out softly.

“Jesus fuck you’re tight” he breathes as he pulls almost all of the way out of her, and she giggles as she deliberately squeezes around him. He slams his cock into her hard, cutting off her laugh and replacing it with a cry of half pleasure, half pain.

“You like that?”

She nods against her arm, her head resting on it on the bench, and so he does it again, drawing out of her slowly and then rocking his hips back into her and fucking her deep and hard, pulling another almost-scream from her.

“God yes, fuck me, fuck me just like that” she whines, and Billy obliges, fucking into her over and over again, listening to the wet noise of her pussy and her cries over the top of it. After a couple of minutes she calls out that she’s coming, and then, as he feels her cunt clamp down on his cock inside her, her knees buckle, and he’s holding her up as she comes, practically gushing all over his dick and his balls. He pulls out of her, ignoring her as she moans weakly in protest at his sudden absence,turns her around and lifts her up so she’s sitting on the edge of the bench she was bent over a moment ago. He pulls her overalls off over her boots, but her jeans are too tight to do the same and she’s laughing as he tugs her boots off her feet. He laughs with her. Once they’re off, quickly followed by her pants and underwear, he pulls her to him by her hips and sinks into her again. She falls apart around him, moaning and writhing as he pumps into her with his hips in a steady rhythm. His thumb finds her clit and he draws lazy circles over it as she moans breathily.

“Oh god yes, yes, just there. Don’t stop, god don’t fuckin’ stop.”

She tenses round him and he groans loudly.

“I’m not gonna last much longer” he admits reluctantly as he watches himself thrusting into her. She smiles as she arches her back in pleasure.

“I’m right behind you Camaro. Don’t stop.”

“Want me to pull out?” he pants, still thrusting. She shakes her head.

“‘M on the pill” she breathes. He tightens his grip on her thigh as she braces her feet against the edge of the bench and fucks her faster, the slap of skin on skin filling his ears over the riff of Dr. Feelgood blasting from the radio. He grunts and tenses as he spills into her, and she digs her fingers into his arms where she’s grabbed his wrists as he pounded her.

“Don’t fuckin’ stop!” she calls, and he moves his thumb faster as he resumes fucking her, his seed spilling out of her as he pushes her over the edge into her own climax. By the time she’s coming down her nails have bitten deep red crescents into his skin where she’s gripped him, and her legs are wrapped around his waist like a vice. She looks at him, and then she’s laughing, a deep belly laugh that Billy can’t help but smile at.

“What’s so funny?” he asks as he slips out of her, tucking himself back in his pants and zipping them up. She sits up and grabs the beer she’d opened before, takes a drink as she chuckles to herself. She tilts the can at him as she swallows.

“Your reputation does you no justice Camaro.”

She hops down from the bench and bends to retrieve her underwear and pants, and pulls them on. She looks at him with a grin as she slips her boots on, then brushes her hair from her face with her fingers.

“Or maybe you just pissed off too many girls with the way you fuck ‘n’ run, so they like to make out you’re not as good as y’are. But that... well, that was somethin’ else.” She drains her beer, crushing the can in her fist and tossing it onto the bench.

“Let’s get that bulb fitted.”

———

It takes her far less time than it would have taken him, he reluctantly admits to himself as she finishes up.

“So...”

He tails off, not really sure what to say next. He’s used to girls begging him to call them or to see him again as he acts nonchalant, so he doesn’t know what to do with himself when the shoe is on the other foot. She watches him, waiting patiently.

“So, is that... it?”

She laughs.

“You gone soft Camaro? M’afraid you’re shit outta luck if you want more than what you just got in there” she tells him, tilting her head in the direction of the workshop. He nods.

“Well, thanks, for that anyway” he tells her, pointing at the Camaro’s tail light. “And, you know. The other.”

She laughs again as he climbs into the driver’s seat and starts the car up, rolling his window down. She leans over, resting her arms on the door.

“Pass me y’phone” she tells him, pointing to his cell phone on the passenger seat. He hands it over and she takes it, typing into it before handing it back.

“Call me if y’fancy a repeat performance sometime Camaro.” He watches her walk away, hips swaying, and when she disappears into the garage he looks down at his phone. She’s saved her number, next to her name. Jo. Just Jo. He says it out loud as he pulls out onto the road, and grins to himself.


	3. Immigrant Song

_Three days isn’t too soon_ he thinks to himself as he lays on his bed, toying with the idea of texting her. And she doesn’t have his number, so it’s not like he can wait for her to text him. He holds the cigarette he’s smoking loosely between his lips, his eyes squinting against the smoke drifting from it and picks up his phone. He types quickly before he can lose his nerve.

 **Billy** **:** _Hey. Thanks again for sorting that bulb the other night. Really appreciate it. And, you know, the other thing. I had a great time._

He hits send without thinking, then curses himself for sounding so lame. But then the three little dots that indicate that she’s typing a reply pop up, and his stomach flips over lazily.

 **Jo:** _I don’t got this number saved, who’s this?_

He frowns slightly as he drags on his cigarette before stubbing it out in the ashtray on his bedside table. _How many guys is she fucking in that workshop_ he thinks to himself, but then his phone pings again and he laughs out loud.

 **Jo:** _I’m fuckin’ with ya Camaro. Told ya, your reputation does you no justice. I ain’t gonna forget that in a hurry ;)_

He grins to himself.

 **Billy:** _Well how ‘bout we refresh that memory anyway? I got no plans tonight..._

Those three little dots pop up for a moment, then disappear. He watches and waits, and they pop up again, for a little longer this time, and then disappear again. He’s just put his phone down on the bed next to him when his message tone pings and he snatches it up, swiping over her name to open it. 

**Jo:** _119 Maple. 7:30. Don’t make me start without ya Camaro..._

He looks at his watch. 19:08. He jumps off his bed, grinning to himself as he checks out his reflection in the full length mirror propped up against the wall. His smile falters ever so slightly as his eyes skim over the raised scar peeking out from under his shirt where it’s pulled out of his pants over his hip. He tucks it in on autopilot, pushing the thoughts that those marks drag up to the back of his mind.

———

They lay in a sweaty pile in her bed, limbs tangled together with the sheet, panting and spent. Billy looks over at her, and she giggles as the corner of his mouth turns up in a smile.

“You keep laughing every time we finish, you’re gonna give a guy a complex.” She laughs a little harder at that, before she reaches out a hand and starts drawing on his chest with a finger. He clenches his jaw slightly as she skims over one of the knots of scarring on his chest.

“Y’aint got nothin’ to have a complex over Camaro and you know it. I ain’t had a guy get me off like that in a long time. Maybe ever.” She pauses as her finger passes over the largest scar, right in the centre of his chest, and when she speaks again her voice is soft. “Y’don’t much like me touchin’ these do ya? Or y’don’t like _them_ , or both.”

He swallows before he answers, his mouth suddenly dry.

“Not sure really. Guess I’m still kinda gettin’ used to em. I’m not so bothered about you touchin’ ‘em. If you’re not bothered by ‘em, that is.”

She props herself up on her elbow, hand under her head, and really looks at him, her palm flat over that mess of twisted skin.

“Why in the world would I be bothered by a few scars?”

He shrugs as his cheeks flush, and in the next moment she’s shifted from laying next to him to straddling him, her long legs tucked into his sides. She holds out her right hand palm first, pointing to the long pale sliver that streaks across it.

“See that? I put a chisel clean through m’hand when I was nine. Came straight out th’other side, see?” She flips her hand round to show him it’s twin on the back. “And this here-“ she lifts her chin, points to an indentation on her jawline, “-I did this fighting Tina Adams in eighth grade. Hit a fence face first when she socked me.” She grins. “Still whooped her ass through.” He laughs. She leans to the side, lifts his hand with hers and runs his fingers over a long patch of scarred skin over her buttock and down her thigh, slightly paler than the rest and rougher. “This here’s where I come off m’daddy’s bike when I was seventeen, in the middle o’ summer in a pair of cut off shorts.” He winces, and she chuckles. “Yep, I left some skin behind on the asphalt that day.” Her eyes drop to her left breast, and she shifts his hand and places his palm over it,his thumb covering the small circular indentation in her flesh near her armpit. Her voice is a little quieter this time, but determined. “This one here was courtesy of an asshole I dated a few years back in Memphis. He got drunk one night and started up a fight he couldn’t finish, stubbed his cigarette out on me. O’course I wrapped a pool cue ‘round his head for it, but the scar’s still there.”

Billy caresses the spot with his thumb, and then she surprises him by leaning over and pressing a kiss to the centre of his chest, right in the middle of the mass of twisted angry skin there. Her lips are warm and soft, her touch tender, and he can tell that whatever else this is between them, that she means that tender kiss wholeheartedly.

“So, you don’t gotta be bothered by ‘em around me. If you don’t want me to touch ‘em that’s fine, you just gotta say. But they don’t bother me none.”

Her mouth turns up in a smile as their eyes meet, and she reaches underneath herself to take his stiffening cock in her hand.

“Looks like they don’t bother him neither” she laughs, and he smirks at her. He’s never been one for getting turned on by sentiment and slush, but her acceptance of his scarred chest is something that’s never happened before. His mind tries to drift back to the first time he’d taken his shirt off in front of a girl after that horrific night at the mall, at the look of horror on her face as she’d taken in the state his upper body had been left in, the way she’d recoiled from him and made her excuses to leave. He pushes it away, that memory, buries it beneath the lingering trace of Jo’s mouth, which right now is trailing down his body, her lips brushing his skin, the tip of her tongue tracing a path down between his legs. She takes him in her mouth and he moans softly as she swipes her tongue over the head of his cock, lifting his hips as his hand snakes into her hair, loose for once.

“Fuck that’s good” he tells her, and he feels her lips curve into a smile around him. She speeds up a little, taking him into her throat as she sucks him off, her hand wrapped around the base of his shaft, working it at the same time as her mouth. His head rolls back into the pillow and he presses his eyes closed, focusing on nothing but the feel of her mouth around him, wet heat all over him, his fingers tangled in her hair, tugging at it lightly as he groans his pleasure. He can feel the pressure in his groin building as he gets closer, his balls tightening.

“‘M gonna come” he groans, but instead of pulling away from him as he expects, she takes him deeper and faster, and he shouts out loud as he fills her mouth and throat.

“Fuck!”

He can feel her swallowing around him, and when she pulls away, relinquishing his softening cock with a wet noise as she wipes her mouth with the back of her hand, it’s his turn to laugh.

“Now who’s givin’ who a complex Camaro?” she asks him, her head tilted to one side as she watches him. He smirks as he shoots her own words from earlier back at her.

“You got nothin’ to have a complex over Jo, and you know it.” She laughs with him, and when he’s on his way home a while later, after she tells him she doesn’t do sleepovers and he laughs some more, he realises that he hasn’t laughed like that for a long time, and he smiles to himself as he drives, Led Zeppelin blasting into the night.


	4. Just Like Heaven/Where Is My Mind?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter has two songs, Just Like Heaven by The Cure in the car on their way to the roadhouse, and Where Is My Mind? by the Pixies. Both are huge favourites of mine.  
> I’ve made a Spotify playlist for this work, which you can find here:  
> https://open.spotify.com/playlist/2Mn7C9zbIY6J3jjxTIVbHC?si=NEXsCmv0SImhit1phU7Pkg
> 
> I’ll continue to add to it as we go.
> 
> Lastly, I’ve left things a little ambiguous with regards to the year in this chapter, and you’ll see why when we get to Jo’s name. As I said at the beginning, just imagine that the 80s Are happening in the present day, and it won’t matter so much hopefully.  
> Thanks for reading so far.

He hears her turning into his street, the low, steady thrum of the Impala’s engine pausing outside the house. He can make out Neil grumbling away to himself about the noise from the living room, but it doesn’t bother Billy the way it used to, doesn’t set him on edge.

Neil hasn’t laid a finger on him since Starcourt. Not once, not even a slap. In fact, he’s barely so much as raised his voice to Billy, a welcome side-effect of his brush with death at the mall that night.

He checks his hair in the mirror one last time, before he throws his jacket over his shoulder and heads for the door, poking his head into the living room on the way out.

“I’ve got my keys. I’m not sure what time I’ll be back, so don’t wait up for me.”

Neil grunts from his armchair, doesn’t even bother looking up from his paper. Susan turns to him and smiles warmly.

“Enjoy your date Billy.”

Neil’s head snaps up at that, his brow furrowed.

“A date with who?”

Billy rolls his eyes, then turns to Susan.

“I told you Susan, Jo’s just a friend. It’s not a date.”

“Joe? As in, Joseph?” Neil’s eyebrows are practically touching his hairline now, and Billy has to force back a laugh as he addresses Neil.

“No, Jo as in... I’m not sure actually. Joanne I’m assuming.”

Neil’s former frown returns, but he looks back to his paper now, his interest in the conversation waning.

“Women picking up men on dates, driving around in cars they can barely handle. Would never have happened in my day.”

Billy rolls his eyes again.

“It’s not 1845 anymore Dad. You might wanna think about joining us in the future sometime. Besides, it’s not a date.” A horn sounds outside, and Neil tuts and mutters something under his breath.

“Like I said, don’t wait up.”

He saunters down the front steps to where Jo’s waiting for him at the kerbside, her arm hanging out of the rolled down window. She looks over the top of her sunglasses at Billy as he grins at her.

“Took your sweet time Camaro. Too busy prettifying that beautiful face for me? Come on, hop in.”

He laughs as he climbs in the passenger side, ignoring Susan waving at him from the window, Max gawking next to her. Jo raises a hand to the pair of them as she pulls off.

“That your Mom?”

He shakes his head.

“Stepmom. Susan. She’s alright. We get along ok, more so since last year. You know, uh, since this happened.” He indicates the general area of his chest, and Jo just nods, doesn’t ask any awkward questions. He likes that; she never asks, never pries, but he knows if he talks she’ll just listen, never judging. And he has, a little, in the weeks since they first met. He’s told her that he got hurt defending his younger sister and her friends, told her that he almost died, but nothing more, not yet. He hadn’t realised until that conversation that he actually thinks of Max as his sister now, instead of keeping her at arms length the way he had before. She’d been devastated when she thought that Billy had died, and while he was recovering she’d gone to see him every day at the hospital, played board games with him, sat and read to him, even left him her Walkman and a stack of his tapes.

He leans forward and turns the volume up on the radio, and Jo smiles and sings along, her hair whipping around her face in the wind as she drives, the setting sun reflected in her dark glasses, fiery and low in the sky.    
  


**“Show me, show me, show me how you do that trick,  
** **The one that makes me scream she said,  
** **The one that makes me laugh she said,  
** **Threw her arms around my neck.  
** **Show me how you do it,  
** **And I promise you,  
** **I promise that I’ll run away with you,  
** **I’ll run away with you.”**

Billy smiles softly and leans back in his seat, watching the road disappear beneath them and listening to Jo’s lilting voice. He looks down when he feels a warm weight touching his leg, and sees her palm resting on his thigh. He looks at her and she shrugs with a grin, so he grins back and places his hand over the top, tucking his fingers between hers.

“Hey, so I have a question. What exactly is Jo short for?”

She groans and leans back into her seat, turning her head to look at him, glancing back at the empty road occasionally.

“Ya really wanna know, ya gotta promise me y’aint gonna laugh. And you ever call me by it, and I’ll Annie Oakley your dick right off. Don’t laugh at me Camaro” she warns him, as he chuckles in the seat next to her. “‘M from Tennessee, I gotta shotgun and I know exactly what I’m doing with it.”

He puts on his best earnest expression, lifts his free hand up and places it on his chest.

“I promise I won’t laugh, and I won’t call you it, whatever it is. Cross my heart” he says, suppressing laughter.

She turns back to the road and sighs.

“You gotta remember I’m from Tennessee, and m’daddy only listened to country music. M’full name’s Jolene.”

Billy laughs out loud, and Jo turns to him indignantly.

“Y’promised me ya wouldn’t laugh!”

He laughs harder, before he forces himself to stop, suppressing it to the occasional giggle.

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I know I said I wouldn’t laugh.” He clears his throat, glances at her serious expression from the corner of his eye. “But Jolene? I mean come on...” He’s still laughing when she pulls her hand from his and punches him in the arm.

“Owww!” he giggles, rubbing at the spot where she pistoned her fist into him. _Packs a punch_ he thinks. “What was that for?”

“You promised you wouldn’t laugh” she tells him, a smile twitching at the corner of her mouth. He smiles at her, takes her hand from the steering wheel and puts it back on his leg, slips his fingers back between hers as they both turn back to the road.

He waits a while before he squeezes her hand gently and speaks quietly, as if to himself.

“I like it.”

She smiles to herself softly as she squeezes back.

———

It’s fully dark by the time they get to the roadhouse, and Billy groans when he notices the red Pinto in the corner of the parking lot. 

“S’matter Camaro?”

He points to the other car as she parks up opposite it, runs his hand through his hair.

“That’s Carol’s car. Carol Perkins, I went to high school with her and her dickwad boyfriend Tommy.” He laughs in disbelief, shakes his head. “You know, I actually thought that guy was cool for a while back then.” He opens his door before turning back to look at Jo.

“Let’s get this over with.”

He walks in just behind her, cringing just a little when he hears Tommy’s shout over the music as Jo heads for the bar.

“Billy fuckin’ Hargrove! Goddamn man, I haven’t seen you since high school. What are you doin’ out here?”

Billy plasters on a fake smile before he turns to Tommy, who’s walking towards him, and nods at him.

“Tommy. Just here for a drink with a friend.” He raises a hand to Carol, who waves back at him and winks. It makes Billy feel slightly nauseous. Tommy points to Jo, leaning over the bar talking to the bartender. He looks over his shoulder at Carol, who’s gone back to scrolling through her phone, and lowers his voice.

“You with her?” He raises his eyebrows and makes a whistling noise without waiting for Billy’s reply. “She’s some grade A meat, I might have a go at that myself if I wasn’t here with Carol tonight.”

“Y’gonna rack ‘em up Camaro?” Jo nods in the direction of the pool table as she approaches the two of them, and Billy’s never felt so relieved to see someone in his whole life.

“Sure” he tells her, smiling at her, and she nods in acknowledgment of what he’s telling her without words. “See you later then Tommy.”

Tommy claps him on the shoulder as he walks away and Billy tenses his jaw, resisting the urge to just clock him right there and then.

“That the dickwad?” Jo asks as she hands him his drink, and he chuckles.

“That obvious?” She laughs as he racks up the balls and hands her a cue, ignoring the stares from Tommy across the room.

———

“Well it’s official Camaro, ya suck at pool. I make that 8 frames to 3, and one o’ those y’only won ‘cos I felt sorry for ya and let ya.”

Billy laughs. He’s had a good night in spite of it’s rocky start, and Tommy’s spent less time staring and more time drinking since he and Carol had a brief but heated argument about half an hour ago. He looks up to their table but it’s empty, and he breathes a sigh of relief, until he feels a heavy palm on his shoulder.

“So what’s the deal with you two then Billy, you bangin’ or what?” Tommy slurs, and Jo raises an eyebrow as Billy shoots her an apologetic look. He turns to Tommy and speaks quietly, an edge of danger to his voice.

“I already told you, we’re just friends. And I’d appreciate it if you didn’t talk about her that way Tommy.”

Tommy snorts laughter and throws his arm around Billy, pulling him to him by his neck, but he drops his smile as he lowers his mouth to Billy’s ear.

“That cos you can’t get it up anymore Billy? You know, after what happened at the mall? Cos I heard-“ he snorts again, and Billy feels a desperate mixture of rage and shame rising in him “-I heard that you tried to fuck Sammy Stone, and you couldn’t get the deed done. ‘Couldn’t get his dick to co-operate’, I think was how she put it. And then there’s Vicki, who couldn’t even stand to look at you after what happened, the way you got left. Can’t really blame her though right? I mean, fuck, if I was you, I think I’d have finished myself off rather than live like that. But I’m not, I’m still in my prime, so how about it baby?” He looks at Jo as he finishes, releases his grip on Billy, and grabs her ass as he smirks at her. Billy clenches his fist, ready to punch him, and that’s when Jo leans forward and grabs Tommy by the balls, squeezing hard. He yelps and tries to back away, but she tightens her grip until he lets out a high pitched shriek and she follows him as he backs up to the wall. She puts her hand on the back of his neck and leans into him as if she’s going to kiss him, but she speaks into his ear instead, her voice clear and determined.

“Oh baby, you got no idea what you’re doin’. You couldn’t handle me on your best day Tommy, and today’s far from that from where I’m standin’.” She flexes her grip on his crotch and Tommy makes a noise like a dog trying to bark with something stuck in its throat. She smiles at him.

“Now, you’re gonna apologise to my friend for ruinin’ our nice evenin’.” Tommy swallows, and Jo twists her hand slightly, making him squeal.

“I’m sorry, I’m really sorry Billy. I didn’t mean anythin’ by it, I just-“ His speech cuts off with another squeal as she squeezes just enough to stop him.

“That’ll do nicely Tommy, thank you. Now, your girlfriend’s just come back from the ladies room and I think she’s probably got a few questions for you, so m’gonna leave the pair o’ ya to it.” She lowers her voice now, speaking just loudly enough that only Tommy can hear her, even though you could hear a pin drop in the bar now that everyone has turned to watch them and stopped talking. “Oh, and you might wanna give it a little while before you leave, because in about ten minutes time, I’m gonna be gettin’ railed out there in that Impala in the parkin’ lot, and we wouldn’t want Carol gettin’ jealous ‘bout what she’s missin’ out on on account o’ bein’ with you now would we?” She pulls her head back and meets Tommy’s eyes, wide and bulging, and he shakes his head frantically.

She smiles sweetly at him as she releases her grip and Tommy falls to his knees, his hands clutching himself between his legs as he moans. Carol just watches, her mouth open slightly, and Jo waves at her.

“See ya around Carol.” She puts out a hand to Billy, nods to the door with her head.

“Let’s get outta here Camaro. You were right, place is full o’ dickwads.”

Billy threads his fingers into hers with a grin and they walk out into the night together.

———

Billy calls out as he comes, Jo’s legs wrapped around his hips in the passenger seat of the Impala, his face buried in her hair. She draws her hands up and down his sides, lingering over his scars, feeling them with her fingertips, The Pixies playing quietly on the radio.

“What’s on your mind Camaro?” she asks him, her voice soft. “Ain’t nothin’ that asshat said in there is it?”

Billy sighs.

“A little” he mumbles, his lips pressed against her neck.

“Wanna talk about it?”

He sighs again, deeper this time, but she just waits, quietly, her hands still moving. It’s comforting, feeling her touching him that way. He decides now’s as good a time as any. He speaks from where he is, his mouth on her throat as he lays over her.

“The girl Tommy mentioned, Vicki? Well I took her out one night, about six months after what happened to me. Got her in bed after, and when I took my shirt off she was... horrified. Disgusted. She couldn’t look at me, let alone touch me. She made some shitty excuse and left.” A tear rolls down his cheek from under his lashes, and he wipes it away defiantly. “Then, maybe five or six weeks before you moved into town, I get a phone call one night from Samantha Stone. We talked for a bit, then she asked if she could come over. I’d had a few drinks, so I said yes, against my better judgement. She wanted the full Billy Hargrove experience, so she tried her best not to let it show when I got undressed, but I could tell by the way she cringed when she touched me that I revolted her. Well it wasn’t exactly the best for my self esteem, and I couldn’t do it.” He clears his throat. “I couldn’t get hard. I knew she didn’t really want me, she wanted the old Billy, the unmarked, unspoiled Billy, and I couldn’t get that outta my head. So, she left as well, and told the entire town about it for good measure. So now everyone thinks I’m some deformed freak who can’t get it up.”

Jo’s silent for a moment, before she says his name quietly, gently.

“Billy?” He lifts himself slightly, meets her eyes. She looks down to where their bodies are still joined, her lower half bare and his jeans pushed down around his thighs.

“Do I look like I think y‘can’t get it up?”

He barks a laugh, smiles at her.

“No.” He lifts his hand to tuck a loose strand of hair behind her ear. “You never called me Billy before.”

She thinks for a moment as she watches him watching her.

“Yeah, I guess I haven’t.”

He cups her face in his hand, his eyes never leaving hers.

“Sounds nice when you say it” he whispers. She smiles softly.

“Billy” she breathes, her hands drifting up to his face, caressing his cheek.

“Mmmm” he murmurs, nuzzling into her neck, planting soft wet kisses there, trailing them over her collarbone.

“Make love to me again Billy” she whispers, smiling as he begins to stiffen again inside her.


	5. Wicked Game

It’s the sun that wakes him up just before the alarm goes off, streaming through the gap in the curtains and falling directly onto his face where it rests on the pillow. He blinks sleepily, squinting and rubbing his eyes, and a few seconds later a wet, rough tongue swipes up the side of his face and he pulls away in disgust as the radio alarm clock blares to life. 

**“The world was on fire, and no one could save me but you,  
It’s strange what desire will make foolish people do.   
I never dreamed that I’d meet somebody like you,  
 **And I never dreamed that I’d lose somebody like you.”****

“Urgh, Jesus Vinnie, whad’ya gotta do that for you stupid mutt” he complains, pushing the panting dog away from him before he reaches out to flick the alarm off. “And I don’t know what you’re laughing at” he tells the giggling lump beneath the blanket next to him as he pulls the cover down, and Jo promptly screams.

“No! Don’t you wipe that on me Billy Hargrove or I’ll push you right outta this bed I swear to God!”

She’s got her feet braced against him, trying to push him out of the other side of the bed as he’s attempting to wipe the side of his face currently covered in dog drool on her, and they’re both laughing like loons as they writhe together on the bed, between grunts and the occasional snort. They end up in a heap in the middle of the bed, Jo’s legs wrapped around Billy’s middle, one of his arms around her neck and the other pinning hers to the mattress as they giggle and pant face to face.

“Least you got better morning breath than the dog” he says with a grin, and Jo laughs out loud.

“What happened to my strict ‘no-sleepover‘ policy is what I’d like t’know” she counters, an eyebrow raised.

He releases her arms, and wraps his own around her middle, pulling her to him. He kisses and nips at her throat, and she moans softly.

“Stop tryna distract me” she tells him, feeling his lips turn up in a smile against her skin. He lifts his head and looks at her, doing her best to be serious.

“Well” he says, his finger running up and down her spine, “I believe what happened is you fucked me into a coma, and then fell asleep yourself. So it’s entirely your fault.” Her mouth turns up in a wry smile.

“Is that so?” she asks him with a grin, and he nods as she giggles. “I don’t seem to recall that at all. In fact, I think what actually happened was that I tried t’get ya to leave, and you told me that if I let ya stay, you’d fetch me breakfast in bed.”

He grins at her, before he rolls over on top of her, ending up resting between her legs.

“Well if you want breakfast in bed, I’m gonna need something to eat myself first” he tells her as he lays a trail of kisses over her collarbone and down the slope of her breast. He pauses by the small scar she showed him that day, just a few months back, although it feels like a lifetime ago, and presses a soft kiss to it, just as she did that day on his chest. She smiles as he does it, her fingers combing through his hair. Her lips part as he takes her nipple into his mouth, swirls his tongue over it and needles it gently with his teeth, tugging at it and sucking. She moans softly, and when he resumes his path south his finger and thumb take over, rolling it between them the way he knows she likes.

“I don’t know why you’re still fighting this” he tells her as he works his way down her stomach with his mouth, leaving a wet trail of kisses behind. His hand tugs at her panties, and she helps him push them down, wriggles her legs out of them and kicks them away.

“Fightin’- oh, that’s good- fightin’ what?” she asks him, writhing beneath him as he reaches her core and brushes his lips across it.

“Us” he replies as he sinks his teeth into her inner thigh, and she calls out softly. “We’re good together and you know it.” He teases her clit with the tip of his tongue, and she arches her back, simultaneously trying to move away and get closer to him at the same time, her senses overloaded. “You know I haven’t been with anyone else since we started this-“ He draws his tongue up her slick folds firmly, and she moans deeply, digs her fingers into his scalp, “-and I’m fairly sure you haven’t either. Might as well make it official.” He slips a finger into her as he takes her clit into his mouth and sucks at it, pushing his tongue against it, and before she can reply she’s coming hard, and he’s lapping at her, devouring her eagerly.

She lays there breathless and he reappears above her inher field of vision. He’s slipped off the shorts he slept in, and she can feel his hard length pressing into her thigh, can feel him leaking over her skin.

“So whaddya say?” he asks, watching her, his eyes hopeful.

“Billy, we’ve talked about this before.” His face falls, and her heart sinks. She hates this, hates the way his disappointment makes her feel when she says no. _Maybe he’s right. Maybe it’s time to let go of the past_ she thinks, and she cups his jaw.

“I like you Billy. I like you a lot. As a friend, and as more than that.” He lifts his eyes back to her face, waits. “And it’s not just cos’a the sex. I mean, don’t get me wrong, the sex is a-fuckin’-mazin’, but I like you as well Billy. I really do.” She sighs softly, thumbs at the corner of his mouth. “The last relationship I was in, I got real hurt. He cheated on me with m’best friend, and I didn’t find out ‘til I caught ‘em goin’ at it in m’bed.” She looks up at him and he sees tears welling in her eyes. He slips his hands under her head, cradles her there and kisses the tip of her nose as she laughs tearfully. “I don’t wanna get hurt like that again” she whispers, and when she blinks the tears cascade down her temples, falling on his hands beneath her. He takes a deep breath before he speaks, slowly and meaningfully.

“If we’d met two years ago, we never woulda had this conversation. That Billy fucked and left.” He feels his cheeks flush, but he never breaks eye contact with her. “I’m not proud of that” he says, and she nods. “I just didn’t know how to be any other way. My mom-“ he clears his throat, swallowing the lump that’s formed there before he carries on, “-she left when I was a kid. Disappeared without a trace. My dad, he used to knock me around for disrespecting him. I think it was really cos he was angry at her. So I kept everyone at arms length, didn’t wanna risk catchin’ feelings for anyone.” He glances down at his bare chest, resting against hers, her skin warm and her arms embracing him. “But I’m not that person anymore Jo” he tells her as he brushes a strand of hair from her face, lets his fingertips linger on her cheek. “I don’t wanna run away anymore. I wanna feel it. All of it. I already do, with you.” His eyes trace the smile that’s forming on her lips, and he smiles back. “Gimmie a chance to show you how much you mean to me. How much I wanna be with you. Let me prove that I’ll never hurt you. I promise you that.”

He watches her as she thinks for a moment before she speaks, her voice barely a whisper.

“Okay.”

His eyes dart from side to side, watching hers, looking for any sign that she’s joking or messing about, and when he finds none he says it back to her, a question this time.

“Okay?”

She giggles and nods, and Billy’s heart skips a beat in his chest.

“Okay” he whispers back, as he dips his head to capture her mouth with his as she shifts beneath him to take him into her with a sigh.

———

“So you and Billy Hargrove huh? Never saw him as the relationship type.”

Jo shoots the woman standing next to her at the grocery store a puzzled look.

“I’m sorry, do I know you?”

The other woman smiles sympathetically, and Jo’s confusion deepens.

“I’m Karen Wheeler. My daughter, Nancy, went to high school with him, with Billy. Told me all about his exploits, all those girls whose hearts he broke. You’ll see, I guess, when the novelty wears off. It’s only been a month or so hasn’t it?”

Jo eyes the older woman with suspicion. 

“I’m sorry, I don’t really see how this is relevant Mrs. Wheeler. High school was a long time ago, and things change. Billy’s changed.”

Karen Wheeler laughs, a bitter laugh that Jo can’t help but feel glad about. She doesn’t like this woman, and she can’t wait to get away from her. 

“Obviously not so much. He always was partial to an older woman.” Her face breaks into a sarcastic smile, and Jo is struck by a sudden urge to punch her in the nose. She stifles a laugh and takes a step closer to her, lowering her voice. 

“Mrs Wheeler, I don’t know what y’heard, or who y’heard it from, but it seems y’either misinformed, or just plain prone t’exaggeration. I just turned twenty five, and Billy’s gonna be twenty one at the end o’ the month. There’s barely four years between us. Now you’re-“ she looks the older woman up and down, weighing her up, “-what, mid-to-late forties?”

Colour rises in Karen’s cheeks, and she adjusts the strap of her bag on her shoulder.

“I’m forty two” she tells Jo through gritted teeth. Jo smiles at her sweetly. 

“My mistake Mrs Wheeler, forty two. That makes you more than double Billy’s age, right?” The colour drops from Karen’s face as quickly as it rose as she realises how badly she’s misjudged this situation.

“So, maybe he never settled down before because he didn’t much like th’options that were made available t’him. Maybe he was just waiting for someone more his own age.” Jo lowers her voice further, almost whispering to the woman stood next to her. “Maybe he just really likes th’way I suck his dick” she says with a smile, and Karen’s face flushes again, her cheeks scarlet. “But either way, he’s with me now, and we’re real happy t’gether, so you don’t gotta worry your little head about Billy Hargrove n’more.” She steps back, taking a moment to enjoy the fact that Karen Wheeler looks like she might throw up at any moment, before she speaks again.

“Anyway, I better get goin’ now. I left him in bed at my place, and I don’t like t’keep him waitin’. Nice talkin’ with ya Mrs Wheeler.”

She turns away from Karen Wheeler, who can do nothing but stand there in front of the canned vegetables with her mouth open as Jo strides away, a smug grin on her face. 

———

 **Billy:** _Wanna eat out tonight?_

He waits for a reply, the little dots pulsing on his screen as Jo types. His phone pings. 

**Jo:** _I’d rather y’ate me out tonight._

He grins to himself as he types back, not realising Max is standing behind him as he sits at the kitchen table.

“You two are disgusting.”

He doesn’t turn around as he replies to her, still typing on his phone.

“You shouldn’t even know what that means.”

Max rolls her eyes at him as she flops into the chair next to him. 

“I’m sixteen Billy. I know more than you think.”

He stops typing and looks at her, before he puts his phone down on the table and gives her his full attention.

“You’d better not be doin’ anything with the Sinclair boy Max, or I swear to God I’ll break his legs.”

Max’s cheeks flush red and she looks at Billy horrified.

“Billy! God! We’re not doing any of that-“ she points at Billy’s phone “-and even if we were I wouldn’t tell you!”

Billy’s expression softens as he looks at Max. She’s really not a little girl anymore, and he feels guilty that he was so awful to her when she was younger. He picks the phone up again and reads Jo’s message before he speaks to Max again, smiling to himself. 

**Jo:** _Let’s get takeout and eat in bed. I wanna stay there with ya all night ;)_

“Yeah, well if you are, make sure you’re careful. Don’t go gettin’ knocked up.”

Max frowns at Billy’s change of tune. Their relationship changed for the better after what happened at the mall, and she’s seen a side of Billy that she didn’t know existed since he nearly lost his life saving her and her friends. But he’s mellowed even further over the last six months, and she knows that it’s because he’s so content with Jo.

“She’s making you soft Billy” she says as she stands up, and Billy rolls his eyes at her. She stops as she passes him, leaning over his shoulder. 

“I like her. She’s good for you. Don’t fuck things up.” She kisses him on the cheek before he can protest, and sweeps out of the kitchen toward her bedroom. 

“Watch your mouth!” he shouts after her, but there’s a smile on his face when he says it, and it stays there for the rest of the day.


	6. Sometimes

He can hear her music as he walks down the street and he smiles to himself. He’s parked around the corner because he wants to surprise her, doesn’t want her to hear his car pull up outside, and as he turns into the path outside her house and the music becomes clearer his smile turns into a quiet laugh. He can picture exactly what’s she’s doing right now in his mind; every Sunday morning is the same. She puts on a tape of the cheesiest music he’s ever heard, and dances round the house, singing to herself as she cleans. He loves to watch her as she dances with a duster in her hand, completely carefree, even when she gives him shit for “standin’ there gawpin’” instead of helping. He can’t help it. She mesmerises him, the way she moves, the way her voice sounds, the way her hair shines and ripples in the light.

It’s been exactly a year since they since they met. To the day. Not that first time he drove past her in the street, working on her car, and not the time he walked right into her in Melvald’s, but since he went to the garage that night and screwed her over a workbench in there. He never knew it then, but she’s turned out to be the best thing that ever happened to him. They’ve been officially dating for seven months now, and Billy spends more nights at hers, sleeping in her bed than he does his own. She’s helped him to accept his scars, both his physical and his mental ones, helped to heal him and taught him to love himself, and in return he’s helped her to leave behind her past, the trauma of finding her boyfriend in bed with her best friend and the damage it did. He’s showed her time and again that she can trust him, that he’d never hurt her, and she finally accepts it. And that’s why he’s sneaking through the kitchen door this morning, to surprise her. He’s toed his boots off on the back doorstep and crept into the house, and now he’s tiptoeing his way across the kitchen, so he can watch her as she dances around the living room in the sunlight singing her heart out, her hair falling over her shoulder in a straggly braid, wearing nothing but a bra and those very denim cut offs she was wearing the first time he laid eyes on her.

 **“It’s not the way that youcaress and toy with my affections,  
** **It’s not my sense of emptiness you fill with your desire.  
** **Climb in bed beside me, we can lock the world outside,  
** **Touch me, satisfy me, want your body next to mine.”**

She turns around right at that moment and catches sight of him leaning against the door frame, and she screams aloud as she jumps.

“Jesus H Christ Billy, y’bout gave me a goddamn heart attack ya damn fool! What the hell are y’doin’ creepin’ round like that!”

She’s giggling by the end of it, so he knows she’s not too pissed off. He waits as she turns the music down enough to be able to hear each other, and as she comes closer he grabs a hold of her, draws her to him and presses his lips to hers in a deep kiss. She hums appreciatively as his tongue traces hers before he breaks away and smiles at her as he pulls the bunch of sunflowers he’s holding from behind his back. Jo smiles back at him and takes them, admiring them.

“Billy they’re beautiful!” She frowns slightly then raises an eyebrow, regarding him with suspicion. “What’s all this in aid of? What did you do?”

He laughs and holds her tighter.

“Does a guy need an excuse to bring the woman he loves flowers on what is technically their anniversary?”

She presses a kiss to his lips as she takes the flowers, and his eyes follow her as she steps into the kitchen to put them in water.

“Anniversary?” she says, grinning at him. “I don’t know many other couples who’d class...” she tails off and her eyes widen slightly as she looks at Billy, still stood in the kitchen doorway. She swallows, and when she speaks her voice is a tentative whisper.

“Did you just say ‘the woman he loves’?”

Billy nods as he moves to stand in front of her, and when he cups her chin with his hands and lifts her face to his, her eyes are full of tears.

“I love you” he tells her as he looks into her eyes. “I have for a long time. I just didn’t wanna scare you off, but I can’t keep it in here anymore.” He reaches for her hand, presses it to his chest over his heart palm down, his own hand over the top, and looks back to her as the tears spill down her cheeks. “I love you Jo.”

She smiles through the tears and laughs, before she reaches up with her free hand to pull Billy into her to kiss him. She lets her lips linger on his, before she speaks, their foreheads pressed together. 

“I love you too. So much.”

He kisses her again, his tongue sliding against hers, her teeth nipping at his bottom lip, and moments later he picks her up, her legs thrown around his waist as he carries her up the stairs to bed.

———

Jo gazes down at Billy as she moves on top of him, her hands planted on the top of his thighs behind her as she rides him slowly. He’s barely broken eye contact with her since he told her he loves her downstairs, and she never wants to let him go again. She can’t believe it’s only been a year since they met, since she told him, no, demanded, that he bend her over and fuck her in the workshop. She had no idea how deep her feelings for him would end up running, how she’d agonise over trying to decide whether to break things off with him to keep him at arms length or whether to give up and let him in. She could never have guessed that he’d end up being the one to heal her broken heart, to put her pieces back together and squeeze her so tight they stuck.

She drifts back to him as he calls out her name, tells her he’s close to coming, and she speeds up a little.

“Me too” she breathes, and he lifts a hand from her leg to brush her clit with his thumb, pushing her over the edge of her own orgasm as he comes inside her, filling her.

She collapses on top of him, and they lay that way for a while, him softening inside of her as he draws his fingers over her spine as she swirls hers over his scars.

“Move in with me” she says, so quietly he’s not sure he’s heard her right at first.

“What’s that?” he asks, his heart pounding against his rib cage. She lifts her head and looks into his eyes.

“I said move in with me. I want y’to, if you wanna. Live here, that is.”

His smiles so widely he thinks his face might split in half, and she laughs at his boyish expression of joy. He pulls her up to kiss her, rolls over on top of her and attacks her neck and throat with his mouth, kissing and biting at her flesh.

“Is that a yes?” she laughs, knowing full well that it is.

“It’s a yes” he murmurs against her shoulder, and he’s just about to resume his kisses when Vinnie jumps onto the bed and sticks his wet nose between them, licking at them furiously. They collapse in a heap of laughter as the dog looks at them, his head tilted to one side in a expression of puzzlement, and Billy realises he’s never been so happy in his entire life.

———

“That’s the last box. Y’get much unpacked?”

Jo puts the box she’s carrying down on the top of the dresser, and looks over to where Billy is sitting on the edge of the bed. He’s holding a photo frame in his hands, and although he’s not crying, his eyes look glassy and she can tell he’s on the verge of it. She sits down next to him gently, puts her hand on his thigh, and he reaches down and tangles his fingers into hers.

“I was eight when this picture was taken” he tells her, and she looks at the photograph. They’ve talked about his mother before, she knows her name was Beth and that she left when Billy was just a child, but she’s never seen a photograph of her before.

It’s clear that it’s Billy, even though he was just a boy when it was taken, she can tell by his golden curls and his grey-blue eyes, by the wide smile on his face. There’s a woman in the photograph with him, kneeling next to him on the white sand of some California beach, and she bears a striking resemblance to Billy, with her blonde wavy hair and her sun-kissed skin. She’s laughing, and her hand rests on Billy’s shoulder, but her eyes are sad, and Jo can’t help but wonder what made her leave the child she so clearly adored behind.

“Your momma sure was beautiful Billy” Jo says softly, and he nods wistfully.

“I used to think she was the most beautiful woman in the world” he tells her, his thumb brushing over his mother’s hand on him. “I remember once-“ he laughs, and his voice sounds a little choked, so Jo squeezes his hand, a gesture that tells him it’s okay to be sad, “-once I told her that I wanted to marry her when I grew up. She laughed and told me that moms can’t marry their sons, but that I’d always be her number one guy. I guess she forgot about that.”

Jo waits for a moment, before she holds out her hand.

“Can I?” she asks, and Billy looks at her, nods and holds out the photograph as he wipes his eyes with the back of his hand. She takes it from him gently, turns and places it on the dresser next to the box she’s just brought in. She’s been putting together a new chest of drawers for the bedroom, so there’s a hammer and a tub of nails, screws and other odds and ends on the top of her bedside table, and she picks it up, digs through it for a picture hook. She knocks it into the wall above the dresser, on Billy’s side of the room, and when she’s done she reaches down and picks up the picture and tenderly hangs it on the wall. She steps back to look at it, and Billy stands behind her, reaches his arms around her and hugs her to him as he rests his chin on her shoulder.

“Welcome Home Beth” she whispers, and Billy tightens his embrace as Jo feels his tears soak into her shirt.


	7. Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas

It’s their first Christmas as a couple, their first living together, and Jo had insisted on hosting Christmas Dinner for Neil, Susan and Max. Billy reluctantly agreed, but he has to admit that the day has gone off without a hitch. Jo had prepared the most amazing meal he’d ever eaten, which everyone had enjoyed, and after dinner they’d all exchanged gifts. Jo and Susan had spent much of the day chatting away like old friends, and Billy finds himself glad that they get along so well.

Even Neil had seemed to enjoy the day, and he and Billy had actually held a pleasant conversation while Susan, Jo and Max had washed up after dinner.

“You know, I wasn’t too sure about the girl at first, but she’s not so bad y’know” Neil says as he sits at the dining table with Billy, watching the women talking and laughing in the kitchen as the radio plus Christmas songs in the background. “She certainly seems to make you happy” he says, and when Billy looks over at his father, he can’t help but wonder if Neil maybe feels a pinch of regret about the way their relationship used to be.

“She does” Billy replies softly, and his father nods before he stands up, draining his bottle of beer. He put his hand on Billy’s shoulder as he passes by him, squeezes it gently. 

“Merry Christmas son” he says and Billy smiles as he replies, putting his own hand over his father’s.

“Merry Christmas Dad.”

———

“Thank you so much for having us over, the pair of you. It’s been wonderful.”

Susan embraces Jo at the door as they’re about to leave, and Billy smiles as he watches them.

“You’re very welcome Susan, any time you like. And Merry Christmas to you both, and to you Max.” Jo sweeps Max into a hug as Susan releases her, and then she surprises Billy by leaning into Neil and pecking him on the cheek.

“Thank you f’coming Neil, and thank you for th’gifts. I really appreciate ‘em. We both do” she says, as she smiles at Billy.

Neil looks shocked for a moment, before his usual composure returns, and he smiles at Jo warmly.

“It been great to spend the day with you both, so thank you for having us.”

Susan pulls Billy into her arms, and whispers in his ear as she embraces him.

“Don’t you let go of that girl Billy Hargrove. She’s the best thing that’s ever happened to you.” He smiles and murmurs back.

“I know. Don’t you worry about that.”

They wave the three of them off as they huddle together against the cold in the doorway, waiting until they’re out of sight down the street before they head inside to cuddle into each other on the sofa as they watch their favourite Christmas movie (which, of course, is Die Hard) by the light of the Christmas tree, Vinnie sprawled across across their laps. 

———

Billy peeks out through the bedroom curtains on his way to the bathroom, and smiles to himself. He turns back to the bed, and calls softly to Jo.

“Jo, wake up. Come look at this.”

She groans and stirs, before she throws back the covers and sleepily pads barefoot across the bedroom to where Billy stands at the window.

“This better be good Billy, draggin’ me outta bed at this ungodly hour on New Years Eve just ta look outta the window.”

She pulls the curtain back and her mouth falls open slightly, her face awed.

“It’s so beautiful” she says in a hushed whisper, as she takes in the blanket of perfectly white snow covering everything outside. “Where did it come from?” she asks, and Billy snorts as he wraps his arms around her from behind.

“The sky” he tells her, and she rolls her eyes and tuts at him.

“Y’know damn well what I mean, it wasn’t snowin’ when we came up t’bed last night, and it’s gotta be three feet deep out there!” He watches her as she takes it in, child-like wonder in her eyes.

“Musta come down in the night” he muses, and then he laughs. “Anybody’d think you never saw a bit of snow before.”

She shakes her head.

“Not this much” she says, still taking in the sight of their garden. “Not in real life, anyway. Don’t get much o’ the stuff in Tennessee.”

He kisses the back of her head, and untangles himself from her.

“Come on” he says, grinning at her playfully. “Let’s go play in it.”

———

Jo’s feet are finally getting getting warm again after spending the entire day in the snow with Billy and Vinnie, building snowmen and making snow angels, all of which culminated in a snowball fight out on the street with Max, Lucas and their friends. The kids had won easily, and Billy had finally surrendered after being cornered behind the Impala and blasted in the face with three snowballs, one after the other, courtesy of Dustin and El.

Jo stirs her tea, and at that moment Vinnie comes bounding into the kitchen and skids to a halt at her feet, panting and looking at her.

“What’s this?” she asks him as she unties the piece of ribbon that’s been wrapped around his collar and tied in a knot, holding a rolled up piece of paper in it.

She unrolls it, and smiles when she recognises Billy’s scrawled handwriting, a note that simply reads “come outside”.

“Billy Hargrove” she calls as she heads for the back door, slipping her feet into her boots as she passes them, “if this is a plot t’get me out in that garden again so ya can pitch another snowball at me y’better think again, cos I on’y just thawed m’feet out.”

She pulls her cardigan around her against the cold as she steps outside, and Vinnie almost bowls her off her feet as he runs past her into the garden, kicking up snow.

“Vinnie!” she reprimands him, her eyes following him as he slides to a halt, but the shout dies in her throat, because he’s stopped and turned around, plonking himself down next to Billy, who’s down on one knee in the snow, looking up at her with hope in his eyes and a diamond ring in his fingers. Her hands fly to her mouth, a lump rising in her throat, and tears fill her eyes in an instant.

“I made a promise to you once” Billy says, his voice soft and quiet, “that I wouldn’t ever call you by your full name. But I figure that you’ll give me a pass just this once, especially since I’ve kept every other promise I’ve ever made to you. So-“ he reaches out his empty hand to her, and Jo steps forward and takes it with a sob, her other hand still covering her mouth, “-Jolene Wilson, the only woman I’ve ever loved, and the only one I ever will, will you make me the luckiest man alive and marry me?”

She nods without any hesitation, before she drops her hand from her face and speaks, her voice tearful but happy.

“Yes, I will.” She laughs as he slips the ring onto her finger, tears flowing down her cheeks. “Of course I’ll marry you” she tells him as he stands and sweeps her off her feet, twirling her around as Vinnie barks at the pair of them, before he sets her down and pulls her into a kiss.

“I love you so much” he tells her when he finally gives up her lips, and Jo smiles as she rests her head on his chest, and tells him she loves him too.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the ring that Billy gives to Jo, if you want to see what I had in mind. I saw it and it just seemed very ‘her’.
> 
> https://black-hearted-bitch.tumblr.com/post/624266042961788928


	8. White Wedding - Part 1

They marry on September 6th, two years to the day since they fell into each other’s lives. Max stands by Billy’s side in the church, nervously picking at her dress.

“Stop doing that” Billy mutters to her, her nerves setting him on edge. Max rolls her eyes.

“I don’t know why you couldn’t put your foot down about the trousers. You know I hate dresses.” Billy smiles in spite of himself, and turns to Max.

“Look, I know that, but Susan wanted you in a dress. At least you got to pick a colour. Shoulda known you’d wear black.” He runs his hand through his hair. “How do I look anyway?” Max laughs.

“Like a douchebag. But a smart one.” Billy grins at her.

“Knew I shoulda picked another best man” he laughs, and Max elbows him.

“Wo-man” she growls.

“You can almost pass for one in that dress” he tells her with a smirk, and that’s when Neil clears his throat as he eyes them sternly from his seat next to a beaming Susan, just as the organ starts playing. Billy turns away to face the front of the church, and he catches Max’s eyes widen as he glances to her, about to tell her to do the same. 

“What, what’s the matter?” he asks, and Max shakes her head.

“Nothing. She’s beautiful”, and Billy could swear that there are tears in his sister’s eyes.

“What do I do, do I look? Or do I wait?” Max smiles at him softly.

“You’ll regret it for the rest of your life if you don’t.”

Billy takes a deep breath and turns slowly, to see Jo walking up the aisle on Abe’s arm, looking utterly radiant. He swallows as tears well in his eyes, and she smiles at him as he gazes at her.

Her dress is simple but beautiful, floor length lace with a deep v front and long sheer sleeves, her hair loose around her face with a few small flowers over her left ear. He’s certain that she’s never looked more beautiful, and that he’s never loved her more than he does in that moment.

“Hey handsome” she whispers as she draws level with him, and Billy smiles softly.

“You look so beautiful” he tells her, and she blushes as she smiles and looks down at the simple posy of flowers she’s holding in her hands.

The service is short but sweet, and when the pastor lifts his hands and pronounces them husband and wife, there are whoops and cheers from the congregation as Billy scoops his bride into his arms and kisses her deeply.

“I love you Mrs Hargrove, with all my heart” he murmurs as he breaks away, and Jo laughs quietly as she looks into his eyes.

“I like th’way ‘Mrs Hargrove’ sounds on y’lips” she says, and she leans into him to whisper in his ear.

“Y’can make sure ya call me that later” she breathes, and Billy’s face breaks into a grin. “But for now, I love you too Mr Hargrove. Always will.”

———

“Don’t f’get to swing by the drug store on y’way back from work and pick up m’refill” Jo calls, pulling on her boots as she gets ready to leave for work. Billy appears at the top of the stairs, shirtless and sleep dishevelled, and calls to her as she opens the door.

“Wait up, I wanna ask you something.”

She pauses, waits for him to make his way down the stairs trailed by Vinnie. He kisses her on the lips when he reaches her, and then looks at her, contemplating.

“What if I don’t?” he asks, taking a sip of coffee from his mug. Jo laughs and rolls her eyes.

“Well then y’aint gonna be gettin’ much from me til’ you do” she laughs, and he smiles.

“But what if I don’t, and we do. How about that?” he asks, leaning against the hallway wall. She frowns, her brow furrowed in confusion, before it clears as it dawns on her what he’s asking.

“Does that mean what I think it means?” she asks, her voice breathless and her eyes sparkling.

“Mmhmm” he hums as he bends to put his coffee down on the bottom step, before he reaches out and pulls her to him. She gazes up into his face, earnest and open. “I wanna have a baby” he tells her, watching her face for a reaction. “I wanna make a baby with you Mrs Hargrove. Whaddya think?”

She watches him for a moment, trying to work out if he’s joking, before his expression convinces her he’s not. She places her hands on his chest, runs her fingers over the scars she knows so well now, scars she could map out with her eyes closed, and she smiles.

“I think y’better get your ass back up those stairs and inta bed while I call Abe and tell him I’m feelin’ awful sick today” she tells him, and Billy laughs.

———

Two tiny pink lines. Jo’s been staring at those two tiny pink lines for the last 5 minutes. She’s not sure what she’s expecting, whether she thinks they’ll disappear or whether the whole damn thing will burst into flames, but she’s 100% sure that those two little pink lines mean that she’s pregnant.

She’s been feeling off for the last week or so, but somehow, in spite of the fact that they’ve been trying for a baby for almost three months now, it never occurred to her that she might be pregnant until she opened the medicine cabinet in the bathroom that morning and saw the unopened box of tampons on the shelf, the box that, when she checked the calendar, she realised she should have opened four days or so ago.

Jo stops by the drug store on her way into work, picks up one of the twenty or so different types of home pregnancy test that are lined up on the shelf, and heads to the counter, greeted by Joyce Byers as she approaches.

“Morning Jo” Joyce trills as she steps up to the counter, and when Jo places the box down on in front of her Joyce makes a noise that sounds suspiciously like a squeal of excitement, but says nothing. She rings it up, and Jo hands over the cash as she eyes the mirror on the wall that shows the entire right hand side of the store from where they’re stood.

“You want a bag for that?” Joyce asks, and Jo smiles at her.

“No, ‘m good thanks Joyce. See ya later.” Joyce grins at her and whispers as she steps away.

“Good luck!”

Jo delights in the sour look on Karen Wheeler’s face as she walks past her on her way out of the door, pregnancy test in full sight in her hand.

And so she finds herself sitting in the bathroom at the garage, holding that stick in her hands and staring at those two little pink lines that mean their lives are going to change forever, when her phone buzzes on the sink where she left it and she almost drops the test in the toilet.

 **Mr H:** _I’m outside, got your lunch xx_

Jo tucks the test in her pocket, looks at her face in the mirror, notices the spots of colour high on her cheeks. She splashes some water on her face and wipes her hands, before she heads outside to greet her husband.

“You feelin’ alright? You look a little peaky” he tells her as she crosses the parking lot and stops in front of him, his brow creased in concern.

“M’fine, s’just a little warm in there is all. Made me feel all woozy.”

He nods and hands over her lunch bag, kisses her briefly on the lips.

“Don’t forget we’re meeting my folks straight from work tonight at Enzo’s for Susan’s birthday” he reminds her, and she nods as he climbs back into the Camaro. _That’ll have to go soon she thinks_ , and the corner of her mouth twitches as she suppresses a smile.

“You sure you’re feeling okay?” he asks, and Jo laughs.

“Never better” she tells him with a grin.

———

She’s late for dinner, as always.

“I’m telling you, that girl will be late for her own funeral” Neil grumbles as Billy rolls his eyes. He pulls his phone from his pocket as it dings, and swipes over the message from his wife.

 **Mrs H:** _Just got here, sorry!! :\ xx_

“She’s here now” Billy says, as Jo sweeps through the door looking flustered.

“I’m so sorry” she tells them, looking around the table at Max, Neil and Susan as she approaches, “I left y’gift at home Susan so I had t’pop back ‘n’ get it.” She hands the gift bag over, leaning over to hug Susan and wish her a happy birthday before she takes a seat next to Billy. She smiles at him and reaches out for his hand, squeezing it as he smiles back. Neil calls for the waiter and orders a round of drinks.

“What are you having Jo?” he asks, and Jo looks at Billy, a grin plastered on her face.

“A baby” she says softly, and Susan gasps and lifts a hand to her mouth as Billy turns in his chair to Jo.

“Are you joking?” he asks her, and she shakes her head, still smiling as she reaches into her purse and pulls out the test she’d done that morning.

“No” she says as she hands it over, and Billy’s eyes widen as he takes in the two little pink lines she’d spent so long staring at in the garage bathroom. “I took a test this mornin’ and it’s positive. I knew when y’came by at lunch, but I wanted to wait ‘n’ tell y’all together.” Billy drags his eyes away from the stick in his hands to look at his wife, and she smiles as she cups his cheek with a hand. “We’re gonna have a baby Billy.”

Susan shrieks in delight as Billy stands up, pulling Jo out of her chair and crushing her to him.

“We’re having a baby” he repeats quietly, and she nods into his chest as she holds him tight, her eyes filled with tears of happiness.

Neil claps his hands together, his face jubilant as he looks at the two of them, before he turns to the waiter, still waiting patiently. 

“This calls for champagne!” he announces, as Susan rounds the table to embrace both Billy and Jo.

“Err, I hate to put a downer on this, but hasn’t she peed on that?” Max asks, disgust on her face as she points to the pregnancy test that’s been abandoned on the table.

“Maxine!” Susan calls out, horrified, but all Billy can do is laugh as he thinks about the tiny life that’s growing inside his wife right at that moment.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is what I had in mind for Jo’s wedding dress, for anyone who wants to see it. 
> 
> https://black-hearted-bitch.tumblr.com/post/624355809132969984


	9. Without You

“Billy, for th’last time, I promise you that I will call ya the second I feel s’much as a twinge. Now go to work.” 

Jo picks up his keys and tosses them to him, before she points to the door firmly. Her due date had come and gone that weekend, and Billy was stressing about leaving her alone at home to go to work.

“Okay, I’ll go to work, but you have to promise me you’re gonna put your feet up, that you will NOT do any housework while I’m gone, and that you’ll call me if you need anything.”

She’s nodding along before he’s even finished as she rounds on him, shooing him out of the door.

“I will do or not do all of th’above, I promise. Me ‘n’ Vinnie are gonna sit on our behinds on th’couch all day, eatin’ ice cream and watchin’ trash tv. I can guarantee you that I will still be there when ya get home, mainly cos I’m too big to haul m’own ass up outta that seat n’more. Now get gone.”

Billy gets halfway down the front path before he turns around and rushes back to her, dropping into a squat on the front door step and pressing his lips to the swell of her belly, his hands on either side of them. 

“Be good for your Momma” he tells her bump, which answers him with a nudge beneath his palm. He grins as he stands up, and Jo leans up to kiss him.

“Love you” he tells her, and she murmurs against his lips in reply.

“Love you too. Now go to work.”

———

Jo rinses her mug out at the sink and throws the dishcloth down on the counter as Vinnie sits and watches her from the couch.

“I’m comin’ Vin” she tells him with a sigh, “hold y’hosses.”

She waddles from the kitchen into the living room, hand pressed to the small of her back and wincing, and lowers herself to the couch, breathing a sigh of relief.

“Can’t say I won’t be glad to finally be able to see m’own feet again Vin” she says aloud to the dog, who barks in agreement.

“Now then Vinster, what are we gonna watch today?” she asks him as she points the remote at the television, Vinnie’s head settled in her lap.

———

When she wakes laying up on the couch, the tv still blaring, her first thought is that she must have dozed off without realising, because one minute she was watching some awful daytime soap opera, and the next she was waking up. The second is that she must have been out long enough for the tub of ice cream she was eating to melt, because her lap feels wet, but then she remembers that she didn’t actually get any ice cream out, and she looks down in a panic.

She IS wet, and so is the couch beneath her, soaked in fact, and that’s when she feels her belly begin to tighten painfully.

“He’s never gonna let me hear the end of this” she tells nobody in particular through gritted teeth, as she grips the arm of the couch and waits for the pain to pass. As soon as it does she pulls herself up enough that she can lean across to pick up her phone from the end table, and fires off a text to Billy.

 **Mrs H:** _I think ya better come home. My water broke and my contractions have started._

No sooner has she pressed send does her phone start ringing, and she can’t help but laugh despite the situation as she answers it.

“Are you even workin, or were y’just sat there with y’phone in y’hand waitin for me to call?” she asks, listening to Billy’s heavy breathing on the other end. “Are you runnin’?”

“I’ll be home in 15 minutes tops” he tells her breathlessly. Jo frowns.

“You don’t need to rush, the last thing I need is you ending up in an accident tryna get here at...” She tails off as another contraction hits her, and she can hear Billy on the other end of the phone saying her name.

“Jo? Jo are you there? Are you okay baby? Jolene!”

She grimaces at the combination of pain and Billy using her full name, and when the pain subsides enough that she can speak again she lifts the phone back to her ear.

“Forget what I just said. Just get back here as quick as you can” she tells him, as Vinnie whines next to her. “Something tells me this little one’s not gonna hold on f’nobody.” She hears the familiar rumble of the Camaro’s engine start up down the phone line, and she can’t help but feel relieved.

“I’m in the car now, I’ll be right there baby, just hold on” he tells her. “I’ve got the bag in the trunk and I’ll call Max on the way and get her to come and pick Vinnie up.”

Jo winces as she feels her stomach begin to tighten again.

“Billy?”

“I’m right here baby, talk to me.”

She forces herself to breathe out steadily as her belly hardens, and she moans quietly as she rubs her stomach, trying to soothe the pain.

“F’gods sake, don’t stop on th’way home.”

———

Roseanna Beth Hargrove is born at 12.57pm, on Monday the 19th February, weighing in at 6lbs and 13 ounces.

Billy runs practically every red light and breaks every speed limit in town to get home, and then again on the way to the hospital, and it’s a good job he does, because their daughter arrives less that seven minutes after they set foot through the doors of Labour and Delivery. He never moves from Jo’s side throughout, holding her hand as she pushes their baby into the world.

Jo had insisted that Billy be the first to check whether they had a daughter or a son, and he tearfully announces that they have a beautiful baby girl as she’s lifted onto Jo’s chest.

“Fast and furious, just like her Daddy drives” Jo tells Susan with a smile, as the smitten grandmother coos over the tiny bundle she holds in her arms when they visit later that afternoon.

“Well I hope there’ll be none of that with this little one in the car” Neil says, with a raised eyebrow.

“You’ll be pleased to know that the Camaro will be gone next week” Billy tells his father with a sigh, although he doesn’t really care anymore. “I’m trading it in for something a little more family friendly.” 

“Does that mean I can have it?” Max asks hopefully, as she looks up at Billy from the baby.

“No” they all say in unison, looking at each other and laughing.

———

When Jo drifts out of her doze, it takes a moment for her to remember where she is, until she hears the familiar lilt of Billy’s voice. When she opens her eyes she sees him, standing by the window in her hospital room, cradling their daughter in his arms. She can see a tiny fist wrapped around his finger, and he’s singing to her softly. She smiles to herself as she listens to him, soothing their daughter with the song they shared their first dance as husband and wife to.

**“Without you, there's no change  
** **My nights and days are gray  
** **If I reached out and touched the rain  
** **It just wouldn't feel the same.**

 **Without you, I'd be lost  
** **I'd slip down from the top  
** **I'd slide down so low  
** **Girl, you'd never, never know.**

 **Without you, without you  
** **A sailor lost at sea  
** **Without you, woman  
** **The world comes down on me.**

 **Without you in my life,  
** **I'd slowly wilt and die.  
** **But with you by my side,  
** **You're the reason I'm alive.  
** **But with you in my life,  
** **You're the reason I'm alive.  
** **But without you, without you...**

**Without you my hope is small,  
Let me be me all along.   
You let the fires rage inside,   
Knowing someday I’d grow strong.**

**I could face a mountain  
** **But I could never climb alone.  
** **I could start another day  
** **But how many, I don't know.  
** **You're the reason, the sun shines down  
** **And the nights, they don't grow cold**  
 **Only you that I'll hold when I'm young  
** **Only you, as we grow old.”**

When he turns away from the window he smiles as he sees that Jo is awake, before moving across the room toward her. She shuffles across the bed a little, and he perches next to her, still cradling their daughter tenderly as he folds him arm around Jo. She nuzzles into his chest, her fingers moving to his scars of their own accord, tracing them through his shirt with her fingertips, seeking out the familiarity of them for comfort.

“Do you think she knows how much I love her already?” Billy asks, his voice barely a whisper as Roseanna stirs and settles again in his arms. Jo smiles into his chest without looking up at him and nods.

“I know she does” she tells him softly, listening to the beat of his heart. “You made me feel loved even when I didn’t wanna be. I’m glad ya did.”

Billy presses a soft kiss to the top of her head, and looking down at his wife and newborn daughter, he knows he’ll feel content for the rest of his life.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The song that Billy sings to his daughter (and that he and Jo danced to one their wedding day) is Without You, by Mötley Crüe. I danced with my husband to this on our wedding day, and I’ve always wanted to use it as a first dance in a fic.
> 
> This story just strolled into my brain fully formed earlier this week, so it’s taken me hardly any time at all to get it on paper. I know it’s disgustingly fluffy, but I adore the idea of a reformed Billy who just needs some love in his life. I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it.
> 
> You can find the playlist for this story here:
> 
> https://open.spotify.com/playlist/2Mn7C9zbIY6J3jjxTIVbHC?si=yJe3FcWBSaWR_vWYLtdnww


End file.
